Record Store Day This Saturday (4/17)

This Saturday (4/17) is the third Saturday in April so that means... Record Store Day!! Conceived in 2007, it is a "celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the USA, and hundreds of similar stores internationally." Not only is RSD great because it helps showcase and support independent record stores, but it also lets artists put out some unique and interesting items (keep reading if you're a Hold Steady fan...) Today's NY Post had an interesting article giving some of the details.

Feeling groovy isn't what it usedto be. CDs, iPods and flash drives have pretty much replaced vinyl platters and diamond needles.

Yet even in these digital times, some discerning listeners have kept vinyl from extinction. Saturday, on what's known to some as Record Store Day, such collectors -- who still have turntables -- will get their due.

The format is the star of the third annual event, at which highly collectible vinyl records -- made exclusively for the celebration -- will be for sale at $5 and up.

Among the highlights is the "John Lennon Singles Bag," a $25 package that features three 45s: "Mother," "Imagine" and "Watching the Wheels" -- backed, respectively, by Yoko Ono's "Why," "It's So Hard" and "Yes I'm Your Angel." (A "45" is a 7-inch record popular as late as three decades ago, which features two singles and is played at 45 rpm rather than the standard 33 rpm.)

What makes the Capitol record particularly collectible are the details -- assorted postcards and a 2-by-3-foot poster of the couple's bed-in for peace; here, they're wearing pajamas and holding flowers to protest the Vietnam War. There's even a plastic adapter hub, in case your turntable doesn't play 45s.

The Flaming Lips make a strong showing with a $25 cover album of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon." After opening with the familiar heartbeat drums of the original, the psychedelic rockers take the music on a more propulsive and experimental tack.

Familiar songs such as "Breathe," "Time" and "Brain Damage" are updated with twisting ragged guitar work and fragile vocals.

The Rolling Stones get in on the act with a 7-inch single titled "Plunder My Soul," a previously unreleased track from 1972's "Exile on Main Street" album. Suggested price: $12.

This is as funky as the Stones get. With terrific guitar work by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger's vocals easily reaching the upper register he's lost over time, this single ranks among the best Stones music to emerge in years. A remastered track of "All Down the Line," another cut from "Exile on Main Street," is on the flip side. It's a preview from the CD and vinyl re-release of "Exile," due May 18, which will have 10 never-before-heard tracks.

Other vinyl rarities include music by Bruce Springsteen (a 10-inch vinyl with "Wrecking Ball" live at Giants Stadium), Modest Mouse, Elvis Presley, the Sex Pistols, Gorillaz and the Velvet Underground.

They forgot to mention a bunch of cool label samplers coming out as well. You can see the full list of all of the special items being released here.

And if you like The Hold Steady and have an itch for their new record, Heaven is Whenever, they're releasing a super limited hand screen printed vinyl edition, two weeks in advance of its official drop date (5/4)!!

Participating Record Store Day stores in the DC area include....

Washington, DC -CD Warehouse -Crooked Beat Records -DJ HUT -Melody Record Shop -Politics & Prose Bookstore -Red Onion Records & Books -Smash! -Som Records

Maryland -Baltimore: !El Suprimo! Records, Dimensions In Music, morphius.com, Sound Garden -Catonsville: Trax on Wax -College Park: cd.gamexchange -District Heights: Memory Lane CDS and Records Inc. -Frederick: blinding sun records,Platters That Matter Records -Hillcrest Heights: Kemp Mill Music -Silver Spring: cd.gamexchange, Joe's Record Paradise -Temple Hills: Kemp Mill Music -Towson: celebrated summer records

Northern Virginia -Fairfax: Record & Tape Exchange -Falls Church: CD Cellar -Vienna: Vienna Music Exchange

Show Review: fun. @ Jammin' Java, Vienna, VA (9-18-09)

by John Anderson, Guest Reviewer

Do you like joy?

Before we get started, there are a couple of things you should know about your humble guest blogger. Thing the First: The only shows I have ever blogged are shows that I loved. Thing the Second: I was a big fan of The Format. As a corollary to Thing the Second, I should probably also mention that I am a complete sucker for the hooks and harmonies that are a killer power pop band’s stock in trade.

By my lights, The Format were unquestionably a killer power pop band, and it was a sad day when I learned they had broken up, especially given that I had only been privileged to see them live on a single occasion (majestic though that single occasion was). The sadness I felt at the news of The Format’s breakup, however, was later countered by the happy news that fun. had risen, Phoenix-like, from the ashes. Ever since that day, I waited anxiously for news of an album and/or tour.

fun.’s debut album, Aim and Ignite, dropped last month, and it’s a power pop gem which feels like a natural extension of The Format. As such, it only served to further excite me at the prospect of their then-upcoming show in Vienna, VA. The best way I can think to describe that recent show at Jammin' Java is to employ the words Jon Stewart used in response to a Springsteen show: “Do you like joy?”

I wouldn’t presume to speak for the remainder of the capacity crowd, but joy was certainly what I was feeling throughout the hourlong set with which fun. graced the crowd. Is it even possible to not feel joy, or to not find oneself covered in goose bumps in response to soaring harmonies, more hooks than a professional fisherman’s tackle box, and a band comprised of members who not only clearly love their job but who just as clearly put their hearts and souls into their art? It’s not possible if you’re me. (Yes, I know you’re not me. Work with me here.) There’s something magical about a show which features those qualities, and I’m here to testify that there was more than a little magic in the night that Friday.

The set list included all ten songs from Aim and Ignite, and every one was extremely well received by the crowd, as well as a pair of songs from The Format catalogue, the crowd reaction to which I can only describe as rapturous:

Set: At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used To Be), I Wanna Be The One, All The Pretty Girls, Light A Roman Candle With Me, Dog Problems, Barlights, Walking The Dog, The Gambler, Be Calm, Benson Hedges

Encore: The First Single, Take Your Time

Quite possibly the best news of the night, both for those who were fortunate to witness the band’s first area appearance and, perhaps most especially, for those who weren’t able to get in, was the announcement by bandleader Nate Ruess just prior to their final song of the night: “We’ll be back really, really, really soon.”

All The Pretty Girls - fun.